Sheet metal cutting machines



March 31, 1964 B. E. BOOT H SHEET METAL CUTTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet1 Filed Nov. 21, 1960 I n ven tor fifAUAM/A [MM/F0 500m Attorney March31, 1964 B. E. BOOTH 3,126,780

SHEET METAL CUTTING MACHINES Filed Nov. 21, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Inventor fif/V/AM/A/ [pa 4w 50076 By M A Home y United States Patent3,126,780 SHEET METAL CUTTING MACHINE Benjamin Edward Booth, ChristianRoad, Henderson R.D., Swanson, Auckland, New Zealand Filed Nov. 21,1960, Ser. No. 70,800 Claims priority, application New Zealaud Dec. 15,1959 7 Claims. (Cl. 83500) This invention relates to machines forcutting sheet metal and While suited for the cutting of thin fiat sheetmetal, is particularly intended for the cutting of corrugated iron andthe like sheet materials. The objects of the present invention being theprovision of an improved machine for the cutting of sheet materials andparticularly corrugated iron and the like which not only easily and veryquickly effects the cutting, but will also effect such cutting withoutflattening or otherwise injuring the corrugations and in an unrestrictedmanner as to the length of out which may be made.

At present, the cutting of thin sheet metals, corrugated iron and thelike is effected by the use of tin snips and by guillotines and whilethese are quite suited for the cutting of fiat sheet metals, they arenot so suited when the sheet metals are corrugated, cutting by hand byuse of the snips being slow and a guillotine substantially flattens acorrugated sheet along the line of the cut made so that after the cuthas been effected, time is lost in an endeavor to bring the cut back tothe proper corrugated form.

Furthermore, the guillotine is limited by its length as to the maximumlength of cut it can effect, is heavy and is not of a readily portablenature.

My invention has been devised to produce a machine specially intendedfor the cutting of corrugated sheet materials which will effect thecutting quickly and easily and in such a manner as will substantiallyavoid injury to the sheet at the cut edge, the apparatus also being suchas to be unrestricted as to the length of cut it can effect and alsocapable of being readily portable so as to enable it to be used at abuilding site or the like where the corrugated sheets are to be applied,as on roofing and the like.

Broadly the invention comprises improvements in sheet metal cuttingmachines wherein there are disc type cutters rotatably carried by baseplate means, the cutters making two spaced apart parallel cutssimultaneously in the sheet material fed between same whereby a ribbonor strip is severed in the sheet to be removed and present a space orpath extending progressively into the sheet while the cutting proceeds,the sheet continuing to be movable past the base plate of which aportion extends through the space or path as formed in the cutting ofthe sheet.

In describing the invention, reference will be made to the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIGURE 1 shows a front elevation of the cutting machine.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the cutter head end of the machine,

FIGURE 3 shows a cross section of the main plate on line A-B of FIG. 2,

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation of the drive end of the machine with gearsarranged for power drive thereof,

FIGURE 5 shows the crank handle which is applied to the drive end of themachine when same is to be manually rotated,

FIGURE 6 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view through the cutters andtheir shafts in the cutter head and FIGURE 7 shows a sheet of materialwith a partial cut made therein.

In the invention, there is a base or stand which is composed of twospaced apart vertical supports or ped- "ice estals 1 and 2 which attheir inverted U-shaped top portions 10 are rigidly clamped as by bolts3 over opposite ends of a preferably tubular horizontal base member 4,the lower portions 11) of these pedestals 1 and 2 presenting an upwardlyextending slot or space 10 therein, if so desired.

Rigidly mounted on the base member 4 near one end thereof there ismechanism which will be called the cutter head the main member of whichis the base or main plate 5, this having pairs of cheek plates 6, 6a and7, 7a secured as by bolts 8 to opposite sides thereof in upper and lowerpositions thereon, the upper cheek plates 6 and 6a presenting a pair ofbearings 6b concentric with each other within which the upper cuttershaft 9 is rotatable, there being a single disc type cutter 10 mountedon a key 11 (see FIG. 6) in such shaft 9 in the space 60 between theupper cheek plates 6 and 6a.

The lower cheek plates 7 and 7a similarly present a pair of bearings 7bwhich are concentric with a hole which passes through the main plate 5,a lower cutter shaft 12 being rotatable in such bearings 7b and therebeing a pair of disc type cutters 13 and 13a mounted on keys 14 in theshaft 12, these cutters 13 and 13a having a space or gap 15 between samewhich is of such a width as will permit the lower portion of theperiphery of the upper cutter 10 to extend down thereinto, the cut ters13 and 13a also being capable of some axial movements on the shaft 12but being yieldingly held towards each other by spring washers or thelike 16 on the shaft 12' bearing against their outer faces whereby theyare pressed against the peripheral edges of the upper cutter 10.

The lower cheek plates 7 and 7a also include bosses 7c through the boresof which the base member 4 passes, setscrews or the like 17 in suchbosses 7c effecting the required rigid securement of the main plate 5(by way of the cheek plates 7 and 7a) to the base member 4.

The single cutter 10 is disposed substantially vertically above thespaced apart pair of cutters 13 and 13a and these cutters are at thefront of the main plate 5 which is also the front of the machine fromwhich the sheet material to be cut will be moved to between such upperand lower cutters and the width or thickness of the upper cutter 10 isslightly greater than the thickness of the main plate 5, there being agap or slot 5b extending into such main plate 5 at a position behind thecutters and in line with the path the sheet material will take whilebeing cut, the edge of the gap or slot 5b being chamfered at 50.

Distance pieces, bosses or the like 18 either separate from or attachedto the inner faces of the cheek plates 6, 6a and 7, 7a and held by thevarious bolts hold the said cheek plates at required distances apartwith the main plate 5 centrally between these.

At the other end of the base or stand to that of the cutter head thereis the driving mechanism for the cutters and of this the main part isthe drive bearing plate 19 which may be of substantially oval form andhave bearings 19 a and 19b therein for receiving the cutter shafts 9 and12 respectively, a bearing for the main shaft drive or drive shaft 20and a boss 19d through the bore of which the base member 4 passes, witha setscrew or the like 17 in such boss 19d effecting the rigidsecurement of the bearing plate 19 to the base member 4.

Secured on the cutter shafts 9 and 12 at the inner side of the bearingplate 19 there are gear wheels 21 and 22 meshing with each other and oflike size to cause equal speed counterrotation of the shafts 9 and 12and on the outer end of the shaft 9 to the other side of the bearingplate 19 there is secured a gear wheel 23.

Freely rotatable on the outer end of the cutter shaft 12 there is a gearwheel 24 and a concentric attached pinion 3 24a, this latter being inmesh with the gear wheel 23 while the wheel 24 is in mesh with thepinion 25 which is secured to the main drive shaft which projectsthrough to the outer side of the bearing plate E9, the inner end of thismain drive shaft 24 being available for receiving any suitable powerdrive.

This suitable power drive may take the form such as a conventionalelectric power drill 26, secured as by a clamping band 27 mounted on thebase member s with its chuck coupled to the main drive shaft 20 andhandle end engaged by a setscrew 27a in the band 27.

The gear Wheel 24 with its attached pinion 24a freely rotatable on thecutter shaft 12 is held from lateral travel by a collar 28 secured tothe shaft 12, but the shafts 9 and 12 can be manually rotated byremoving the collar 23 and such gear wheel and pinion 24 and 24a andapplying a crankhandle 29 as shown in FIG. to the end of the cuttershaft 12, on which it is freely rotatable, the crankhandle 29 includinga pinion 2% which will mesh with the gear wheel 23. I

A suitable cover shown in dotted lines 39 secured to the bearing plate19 encloses the gearing of the drive mechanism, various collars 31 beingapplied to the cutter shafts 9 and 12 to prevent any undesired lateraltravel of these.

Now the apparatus has been described for machines in which the cuttershafts and 12 and the base member 4 are continuous and obviouslymachines can be produced of various widths between the cutter head andthe drive mechanism thereof, but if a machine is to be one man operatedand manually rotated by the use of the crankhandle 29, the distancebetween the cutter head and the crankhandle must be limited in orderthat the crankhandle can be operated by one hand While the sheet ofmaterial being cut is held by the other.

While two men may operate the machine manually with one turning thecrankhandle and the other holding the sheet to be cut, it is preferredto avoid this as somewhat detracting from the other benefits of themachine, but obviously the power drive enables one man to effectoperation when the site of the use of the machine enables the use ofpower to rotate the cutters.

There are also cases where extra large sheets have to be cut, or longsheets cut across laterally in positions which may render the distancebetween the cutter head and the drive mechanism to be too close topermit of passage of the sheet because of being obstructed by the drivemechanism and therefore to meet such cases, the

machine may be adapted to give extension beyond the normal requirementsof the distance between such cutter head and the drive mechanismthereof.

In such cases, instead of the cutter shafts 9 and 12 and the tube 41being continuous, they are of a known telescopic form such as shown inFIG. 1, the shafts 9 and 12 and the tube 4 instead of being continuousare each divided into two sections with inner tubes slidable over eachof these and an outer tube slidable in turn over both of the innertubes, holes through the shaft sections and the tubes in variouspositions along same enabling bolts to effect securement of the shaftsand tubes to each other in various extended positions between a maximumand a minimum.

Considering by way of example the shaft 5 shown in section in FIG. 1,instead of this being continuous passing right through the machine, suchshaft is divided about midway into two end sections of shaft over eachof which the inner tubes 9a and 9b are slidable, an outer tube 9c inturn being slidable over these inner tubes 9a and 9b with holes 9dthrough the shaft 9 and tubes 9a, 9b and 90 adapted for receiving bolts9e therethrough, a similar telescopic construction being applied to theshaft 12 and the base member or tube 4.

Obviously however, there are other known forms of telescopic shaft whichmay be used in place of the form shown in H6. 1, such as for instanceshafts of square crosssection slidable within tubes with square bores,or splined shafts disposed in splined bores.

FIGURE 7 of the drawings shows a sheet of material 32 in which a partialout has been made, the cutters having simultaneously effected spacedapart double cuts 33 and 33a whereby a ribbon or strip 32a is severedfrom the sheet or cut into same from an edge thereof to thus form aspace or path 32b in the sheet which is slightly wider than thethickness of the main plate 5.

In use or operation, if an electric drill 26 is applied to the apparatusor some other power drive applied to the main shaft 20, such drive istransmitted through the pinion 25 to the gear wheel 24 and its attachedpinion 24a, the latter transmitting the drive to the gear wheel 23 whichis secured to the cutter shaft 9 so that same is rotated at the requiredslow speed, the drive imparted to the shaft 9 being transmitted throughthe gear wheels 21 and 22 to the cutter shaft 12 whereby these shafts 9and 12 and the cutters 10, 13 and 13a are rotated in opposite directionsas indicated by the arrows in FIG. 2.

If the machine is to be manually rotated, the collar 28 and gear wheel24 with attached pinion 24:: are removed and the crank handle 29 fittedon the end of the shaft 12 in place of these, whereby with the pinion ofthe crankhandle 29 in mesh with the gear wheel 23, rotation of thecrankhandle effects rotation of the shafts 9 and 12.

With the cutters ll), 13 and 13a in rotation, a sheet of corrugated ironor the like 32 to be cut is moved to between the cutters and these feedthe sheet 32 through the machine with the two peripheral edges of theupper single cutter l0 acting in conjunction with the inner peripheraledges of the lower cutters 13 and 13a to effect two spaced apart cuts 33and 33a in the sheet 32, whereby a ribbon or strip 32a disposed betweenthe cuts 33 and 33a is severed therefrom along the lines of the cuts.

With the severing of the ribbon or strip 32a in the sheet 32 in advanceof the latter reaching the base plate 5, the strip 32a is thrust to oneside of such plate by the chamfer 5c in the gap or slot 5b so that theout can be continued for any length, there being no restriction as tothe length of out which can be taken because a space or path 32b ispresented in the sheet 32 behind the cutters, through which the baseplate 5 extends to present no obstacle to the travel of the sheet.

When cuts 33 and 33a are effected across the corrugations of a sheet (ordiagonally thereover) the sheet 32 effects an undulating motion andtherefore the manually held side of the sheet is supported in a loosemanner to permit of these undulating movements to be freely effected,the result being that along the line of the cuts 33 and 33asubstantially no distortion from true original form is caused and thesheets on being cut can be immediately put into place on the particularstructure they are being used for without any further attention.

The apparatus has as a main desirable feature its portability andtherefore with corrugated iron and the like used extensively in theroofing of buildings, the machine may be carried up on to the roof of abuilding under construction.

Therefore with timber or other material roof rafters and such likepresent on the roof on which the corrugated iron or the like is to belaid and secured, considerable cutting of the sheets is frequentlyrequired.

For the easy support of the machine, the slots or spaces 1c are providedin the supports or pedestals 1 and 2, the machine being placed on arafter or other member entered to the slots or spaces 10.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for cutting sheet metal and sheet metal containingcorrugations comprising an expansible base member, a head comprising amain plate having one end connected at one end of said base member,pairs of cheek plates secured to opposite sides of said plate in upperand lower positions thereon and extending towards each other, a firstshaft and a second shaft rotatably mounted at the free ends of the cheekplates, said shafts being spaced apart and parallel to each other, apair of disc cutters operatively mounted on said first shaft, a singledisc cutter mounted on said second shaft, said single cutter beingdisposed between said pair of cutters so that a portion thereof extendstherebetween, a bearing plate having one end connected at the other endof said base member, gear means mounted on said bearing plate andoperatively connected to said shafts, expansible members connectedbetween said first and second shafts and said gear means to adjustablysupport said pair of cutters and said single cutter to operate said pairof cutters and said single cutter in counterrotation, drive meansoperatively connected to said gear means to drive said gear means, andmeans disposed in said main plate to divert a strip of metal cut by saidcutters to one side as a sheet of metal is being cut thereby.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the base member comprisestwo spaced apart vertical supports with inverted U-shaped top portions,a horizontal expansible member extending between the supports with theends thereof passing through the top portions of said supports, andmeans clamping said supports to said horizontal member.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein bosses are provided in thelower cheek plates for the rigid securement thereof to said base member,a space between the upper cheek plates in which the single cutter isdisposed on said second shaft and spaces between the lower cheek platesand the main plate in which said pair of cutters are disposed on saidfirst shaft, and said diverting means in said main plate including a gapextending behind the cutters, the edge of said gap being chamfered.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein compression springs aredisposed on said first shaft between the lower cheek plates and saidpair of cutters to yieldingly thrust said pair of cutters against saidsingle cutter.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bearing plate has aboss for the rigid securement thereof to the base member, bearings insaid bearing plate for rotatably receiving further shafts extendingtherethrough, said gear means including gear Wheels on each of thefurther shafts meshed with each other, a further gear wheel on one ofthe further shafts meshing with a pinion of an attached pinion and gearwheel freely rotatable on the other shaft of said further shafts, saiddrive means including a further bearing in the bearing plate for a maindrive shaft, and a pinion on the latter meshing with the gear wheel ofthe attached pinion and gear wheel, said expansible members connectedbetween said first and second shafts and said further shafts.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said drive means includeseither a portable motor or a crankhandle applied to said gear mean-s.

7. An apparatus according to claim 2 in which the expansible members andthe horizontal expansible member are each divided into two sections Withinner tubes slidable over these and outer tubes slidable over the innertubes, holes through the sections and tubes enabling bolts to be passedtherethrough to effect securement of the sections and tubes in variouspositions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 31,681Sprague Mar. 21, 1861 831,866 Hemingway Sept. 25, 1906 1,143,187 GreenJune 15, 1915 1,197,522 Mason Sept. 5, 1916 1,783,869 Allen Dec. 2, 19301,910,271 Williams May 23, 1933 2,216,629 Sabel et a1. Oct. 1, 19402,529,210 Butler Nov. 7, 1950 2,590,700 Hochman Mar. 25, 1952 2,659,436Dutro et al. Nov. 17, 1953

1. AN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING SHEET METAL AND SHEET METAL CONTAININGCORRUGATIONS COMPRISING AN EXPANSIBLE BASE MEMBER, A HEAD COMPRISING AMAIN PLATE HAVING ONE END CONNECTED AT ONE END OF SAID BASE MEMBER,PAIRS OF CHEEK PLATES SECURED TO OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID PLATE IN UPPERAND LOWER POSITIONS THEREON AND EXTENDING TOWARDS EACH OTHER, A FIRSTSHAFT AND A SECOND SHAFT ROTATABLY MOUNTED AT THE FREE ENDS OF THE CHEEKPLATES, SAID SHAFTS BEING SPACED APART AND PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER, APAIR OF DISC CUTTERS OPERATIVELY MOUNTED ON SAID FIRST SHAFT, A SINGLEDISC CUTTER MOUNTED ON SAID SECOND SHAFT, SAID SINGLE CUTTER BEINGDISPOSED BETWEEN SAID PAIR OF CUTTERS SO THAT A PORTION THEREOF EXTENDSTHEREBETWEEN, A BEARING PLATE HAVING ONE END CONNECTED AT THE OTHER ENDOF SAID BASE MEMBER, GEAR MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID BEARING PLATE ANDOPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID SHAFTS, EXPANSIBLE MEMBERS CONNECTEDBETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SECOND SHAFTS AND SAID GEAR MEANS TO ADJUSTABLYSUPPORT SAID PAIR OF CUTTERS AND SAID SINGLE CUTTER TO OPERATE SAID PAIROF CUTTERS AND SAID SINGLE CUTTER IN COUNTERROTATION, DRIVE MEANSOPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID GEAR MEANS TO DRIVE SAID GEAR MEANS, ANDMEANS DISPOSED IN SAID MAIN PLATE TO DIVERT A STRIP OF METAL CUT BY SAIDCUTTERS TO ONE SIDE AS A SHEET OF METAL IS BEING CUT THEREBY.